Gum resin of Boswellia species known as frankincense has been used as an anti-inflammatory agent in Traditional Ayurvedic Medicine in India. Studies carried out have established anti-inflammatory activity of an alcoholic extract of the gum resin obtained from Boswellia serrata in mice and rats. This extract is also shown to inhibit the formation of leukotrienes in rat peritoneal neutrophils in vitro. The source of anti-inflammatory actions has been attributed to boswellic acids (Safayhi, H., et al., Planta Medica published from USA and 63 487-493, 1997; J. Pharmacol and Exp. Ther., 261, 1143-46, 1992) published from USA, a group of triterpene acids isolated from the Boswellia resin (Pardhy, R. S., et al., Indian J. Chem, 16B, 176-178, 1978). These compounds exert anti-inflammatory activity by inhibiting 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO), a key enzyme for the biosynthesis of leukotrienes and 5(S)-HETE from arachidonic acid. A detailed study on the structure requirements for boswellic acids indicated that of all the six acids, 3-O-acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid, hereinafter referenced as AKBA shows most pronounced inhibitory activity (Sailer, E. R., et al., British J. Pharmacology, 117, 615-618, 1996). AKBA acts by a unique mechanism, in which it binds to 5-LO in a calcium-dependent and reversible manner and acts as a non-redox-type, non-competitive inhibitor (Sailer, E. R., et al., Eur. J. Biochem. 256, 364-368. 1998).
Gum resin of Boswellia and boswellic acids have been known to possess other therapeutic activities and they are being used to treat human ailments such as bronchial asthama (Gupta I. et al, Eur. J. Med Res., 3(11), 511-514, 1998), ulcerative colitis (Gupta, I., Parihar, A., et al, Eur. J. Med. Res. 2(1), 3743, 1997) and human leukemia (Yu Shao, Chi-Tang Ho et al, Planta Medica published from USA, 64, 328-331, 1998). Anticarcenogenic property of alcoholic extract of this resin has been disclosed by Mukherji, S., et al (Indian J. Pharma., 32, 48-49, 1970). Immunomodulatory activity of boswellic acids had been reported by Sharma et al in Phytotheraphy Research, (10, 107-112, 1996), published from USA.